60 SECONDS INTERVIEW: Chris Meadows

CHRIS Meadows, 26, lives in Weymouth and works for the Magna Housing Association as the Co-ordinator of the Customer First initiative.

Chris grew up in West Dorset and attended Budmouth and Weymouth College. After a short spell working for the Department of Work and Pensions Chris took time out to travel Asia.

After returning to England Chris took up a job as a chef for a year before joining Magna in 2007.

Chris is a big sports fan, following his beloved Manchester United FC and acting as player manager for Tuatara Bar FC in the Weymouth and Portland Sunday Premier Division.

Despite being settled in his job for Magna, Chris hopes to spread his wings in the future and fulfil his ambitions to travel.

WHAT does your job involve?

Customer First is Magna’s programme to help staff give consistently excellent service to all customers. There are a number of exciting projects that are born out of Customer First which I am lucky enough to get involved with. In my role as co-ordinator, I organise the network of Champions and take forward initiatives and customer service issues.

WHAT is the best part of your job?

I really enjoy the variety of the job. I work in the role part time and also operate in Magna’s Technical Services department - the planned maintenance division of the organisation. The two different roles in themselves provide plenty of variety, but the Customer First role in particular involves me liaising and working with many areas of Magna and the wider housing sector.

WHAT schemes are you currently working on?

Along with our Customer First Champions, I am working on a guide that advises staff on reasonable adaptations and tips to make what we say equally accessible to people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, mental illness, physical disability, dyslexia or learning disability. It is hoped that this will improve understanding, service and accessibility.

There is also a Dignity Champions scheme. We have set up a group of trained staff who are able to advise, support and act as a ‘critical friend’ to employees who feel that they have experienced issues of bullying and/or harassment.

WHAT would be your dream job?

Well I guess lottery winner doesn’t count as a job no? Well, I’d love to have been good enough to be a professional footballer, but more realistically it would be travel writer.

WHERE is the best place you have visited?

Tough call. I love Barcelona. I’m a sucker for theme parks, so Orlando was fantastic, but I think it would have to be Koh Phangan in Southern Thailand. It was a paradise island with amazing scenery and fascinating, engaging locals. I’ll never forget stepping out on to the balcony of my bungalow seeing the magnificent blue of the sea lapping on the beach. I’d put my feet up, read a book and then wander into the town for a cocktail.

WHERE would you still like to go?

Everywhere! I really want to visit Northern Africa and South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina. Donations welcome.

WHAT do you think of Manchester United FC’s chances this season?

Despite my tender years, I was a fully-fledged fan years before our first Premier League title. My Dad is to blame; he wasn’t going to let me support anyone else! Unfortunately it is looking like Chelsea’s year for the title at the moment. If I didn’t play football on Saturdays then I’d be down the Wessex watching Weymouth. The less said about their season the better.

WHO are the best footballers you’ve played with?

I’ve played with and against some good players in my time, including a couple of ex-pros, but for me it’s between a few good friends of mine that I have played with for years and are well known locally. John Lamb played for Weymouth during the Claridge era and now again currently. As well as being very skilful, he has a great football brain. Tom Grattidge is an extremely talented young striker that plays for me on Sundays, but the best would have to be Andy Graham. He has a great engine, every attribute you need as a player and is a cracking bloke to boot.

WHO would be your three dream guests at a dinner party and why?

Sir Alex Ferguson would be the first name on the list, just to thank him profusely for what he has done for my beloved united. Larry David of TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm would be next on the list, he is hilarious and I love his inability to follow social convention. As for the the third guest, my lovely girlfriend Sarah did ask for a name check, and I guess inviting her would be the ideal way of doing so. However, Scarlett Johansson edges it I’m afraid. Sorry, Sarah.

WHAT was the last book you read, film you watched and CD you listened to?

Friends like These by Danny Wallace was the last book. The Informant! or at least half of it, was the last film I watched - it was awful - and the last CD was The Doors - LA Woman.

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